#MeToo

In 2008 I worked briefly at KBTN Classic Country Legends in Joplin, MO. I operated the control board for remote broadcasts on the weekends - including NASCAR - recorded Voice Tracking, and filled in for Warren McDonald - who was the OM at the time. I came on board recommended by Nancy Jones, wife - now widow - of the late George Jones. About a month after I started working there, the Program Director of one of the sister stations sexually harassed me, with inappropriate comments about my body, and questions about the size of my breasts. I did not report it for fear of retaliation, but I did discuss it with the wife of a co-worker, who was PD for another one of the stations, and the next day he quickly took the information to management. They called me for a meeting, and proceeded to ask me questions about what had happened. After they finished with their questioning they said my answers matched those of my aggressor, who they said did not deny the now “allegations”, and had said “Spaniards are used to being talked to like that”. They told me he had been fired, effective immediately. I was not officially fired, but the station never called me for another assignment after that. I would call that an injustice.

From 2016 to 2017 I worked in the office of an employment agency in NC. Their VP sexually harassed me the entire time I was there. The last two incidents had to do with me wearing a summer dress to the office - a couple of weeks before being dismissed from work, and the VP saying to me “Oh Esther, I have to make a big effort not to focus on your boobs, and look at your eyes” - and waiting for a lunch take out for the office with the VP, and having to listen to him tell me about the frequency he liked to have sex with his wife - a few times a week - and how two of his female friends had gotten divorced because they did not have enough sex with their husbands. Both times I was humiliated, and speechless. How could this man abuse his power like this? What did I do, that made him think it was okay to speak to me about my body, or about sex? I often had to laugh off his comments about my body, and about being single. A few times he also asked me if I would date him, if he was not married. You do not feel as if you have a voice. You can’t speak up. Not after I had already lost a job before after someone sexually harassed ME. I was not able to bring that man down for what he did for fear of retaliation. He knew this. A single Mom needs her job. Shame on him. Shame on all of you who have ever made a woman - or man - feel this small.

This is not a joke to women. Don’t speak to us as if we didn’t matter. Don’t treat us as if we are to blame for the conduct of men. I have more personal stories. Stories of rape. Stories of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse. Stories about groping, even as a young teenager, by other teenagers my own age! Not all of us have a voice loud enough, so when we see other women speak up and we see them being heard, we need you to listen, for all the stories we have not been able to tell.

#MeToo #TimeIsUp